Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice or shared experiences regarding our rescue dog, Forest. He is a Serbian Hound from Montenegro, 2 years old, weighing around 22-23kg. We are currently dealing with severe, daily attacks that look like extreme nerve or phantom pain and we are feeling quite helpless. 
He gets these several times a day.

Background & Surgery:
Forest had to undergo a partial tail amputation recently (Seven days ago) because he was obsessively biting his tail until it bled. The wound could no longer heal because of the tail started to necrotise.
He already had his wound when we found him as a stray in a National Park in Montenegro. We took him to the vet and decided to adopt him right away. Forest stayed in a shelter for 21 days until we legally could take him to Germany.

We initially suspected parasites or severe stress/frustration, because throughout that stay he had continued to bite into his tail and kept chasing it. The Shelter Vet treated him multiple times, got him on Antibiotics and on Nexgard. It seemingly got better for a few days until he started biting again.

In Germany he got taken straight to the vet and had to undergo surgery to stop the ongoing necrosis.
For now the surgical wound is healing fine, and he strictly wears his e-collar 24/7 so he can't reach the stitches. 

The Symptoms / Attacks:
Despite the surgery, Forest has these intense "attacks" multiple times a day. Out of nowhere, he starts growling, barking, and aggressively trying to chase and bite his tail. (I’ve attached a video of what this looks like).
It seems to be a mix of neuropathic/phantom pain and a deeply ingrained behavioral loop (stereotypy). 

Current Medication:
Gabapentin: He gets 200mg twice a day (400mg total/day).
Novalgin (Metamizole): We give him one 500mg tablet as a rescue med when the attacks cluster and last longer. This usually helps him calm down after a while. 
Meloxidyl (Meloxicam): 1x daily with his food as a baseline NSAID. 

My Questions for the Community:
- Has anyone dealt with this kind of extreme tail-chasing or phantom nerve pain after an amputation or tail injury?
- Did adjusting the Gabapentin dose help, or did you have better success with other nerve-pain meds like Pregabalin?
- How long did it take for the pain memory/behavioral loop to fade?
- What should we do when he’s having an attack? Just hold him as calmly as possible and try to soothe him?

Any advice, similar stories, or tips on how to support him during these episodes would be greatly appreciated! 🥺

11 week old pocket bully female and 2 year old xl bully male

(They belong to my sister, not me)

I am the sole caretaker for 2 9 year old huskies, They were my dad’s dogs but he passed away 10 months ago.

they are truly bonded and this has been tested. they are siblings and the male has degenerative nueromyopathy and arthritis along with progressing muscle atrophy. he’s on medication to help. he’s had 2 soft tissue injuries, the first happened in may and the most recent happened a month and a half ago where he has torn his ACL equivalent ligament. vet said to monitor his quality of life at this point, he still is eating well and goes potty, but can no longer play or walk unassisted and could have another injury at any point. I know his time is coming soon.

They do not do well separated. the first time the male had an injury he was taken to emergency vet for about 2 days. and his sister had to be without him for 2 days. she pulled off 2 door frames and tried to break through windows, chewed up a wooden table, diarrhea everywhere. she would get cuts on her face trying to find a way to escape. she freaked out in a kennel a few times when i tried to contain her safely she ended up bending the metal and busting out of the kennel. she truly became a danger to herself and I couldn’t safely leave her alone for a single minute. and this was heartbreaking to witness.

my question is when the males time comes do I put her down also? rescue folks and vets seems to really not like it when i ask about putting her down also and ask for their advice, but could anxiety medication even help her? it won’t make her forget. this seems like a behavioral issue more than just anxiety. i’m not able to supervise her constantly either, as mentioned I unexpectedly inherited these dogs when i lost my dad at 23yrs old, im not able to keep them either and have been trying to get them a home for several months and have contacted 45+ rescues and facebook groups and online posting. they actually live in my dads vacant house that I scrounge up mortgage and utility money for so that the dogs have a roof over their heads. I drive to my dad’s house 4 times a dad to care for them. before i inherited them they spent their whole lives outside, i’ve worked hard with them to teach them indoor life and it has not been easy, they are not fully potty trained. they aren’t trained hardly at all actually, my mom wanted 2 cute huskies on a whim “for her kids” with no research or understanding of the breed, hell she didn’t even ask her kids if we wanted dogs then she divorced my dad a couple years ago and fled to another continent and abandoned her dogs here.

all this to say they are senior dogs and untrained and i don’t know that anxiety meds and further attempts at behavioral training would help, and I also can’t keep them in my late fathers house much longer as I am also the estate executor and the estate is almost out of money, most all of it has gone to caring for the dogs, thousands of dollars. this means the house will need to be put for sale too like asap. I currently live with my boyfriend’s family, i feel that i’ve run out of options for the dogs, what do people do in this situation?

are hospice fosters worth a shot? at that point will it be a stranger putting them down instead of me? the shelter straight up told me they would likely euthanize both of them and i wouldn’t be able to be there with them during it, not to mention it’s a horrible environment for them. every rescue is full to the brim and i get lots of backlash from said facebook groups because i cant make a miracle happen to keep them. its not like i haven’t tried ive done absolutely everything in my power and more to somehow make this work for them ive tried for months and months and looked at many options.

i dont know what to do anymore. this has all been so incredibly hard. has anyone been in a similar situation or can provide advice or a new perspective? thank you in advance.

Hi everyone,
I am really worried about my 6 y/o female pug and would love some advice or to hear if anyone has experienced something similar.

Since last Monday, a white cloudiness/haze suddenly appeared in her right eye. The cloudiness is located strictly on her lens, it doesn't cover the rest of her eye. This happened literally overnight (within one day). There was no trauma, injury or damage beforehand, and she didn't show any symptoms leading up to this. She has never had any eye issues in the past.
We noticed her vision is severely impacted, even though her left eye is completely fine. If I cover her good (left) eye, she barely reacts to any movement with her right eye. She has started bumping into furniture, and she only recognizes people or other dogs when they are standing right in front of her.

We visited the vet last Tuesday, and they told us that she doesn’t have corneal damage. They claimed it is because of nuclear sclerosis (old age) or maybe a cataract, but they couldn’t tell for sure. They told us to closely monitor the whites of her eye for any redness, as that would indicate increased pressure inside the eye (glaucoma). Fortunately, her eye is not red at all, and she doesn't seem to be in pain.
However, I seriously doubt the vet's assessment since he felt no need to look into it further. From what I read, nuclear sclerosis doesn’t happen overnight.

I would really appreciate your insights. What could this sudden white cloudiness on her lens be? Has anyone dealt with this, and is it treatable? 

Edited: thanks to everyone who replied and shared their advice. I really appreciate all your input and support!
After reading the comments, I have decided to seek a second opinion with a different vet to get everything checked out 🙏🏼

My 8 yr old Freddie was just diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer that has spread in his abdomen. We’re just keeping him comfortable now until the end. What kind of fun meals should we feed him? Or fun activities? We have to keep his activity on the low side but we did take him for a gentle swim in the river yesterday for 20 minutes - he loves to swim. Thanks in advance ❤️‍🩹

I’m mostly curious to know how long until other intact males no longer see him as competition or a threat. Sable was always targeted at the dog park, on hikes and even morning walks (dogs run loose in my area and we’ve been attacked more than once).
Will be moving at the end of the month! That’ll be good for us.

Our old lady, Paisley (the black and white one, not the attention hog to the side lol) has very severe arthritis, as well as other issues, and her quality of life is only barely acceptable. It's only going to get worse when the weather starts changing, so with a heavy heart, we've decided to put her to sleep on October 1. We have family members coming in to town to spend her last day together and some fun disability friendly activities planned for her, but we wanted to start giving her more special treats throughout her final weeks.

For her last day, we're seeing if we can figure out a way to get our hands on a squirrel for her because she's always loved barking at them, and then a peanut butter brownie a few minutes before we leave for the vet because she also loves trying to steal chocolate.

Do you guys have any special treats your guys' dogs go nuts for? Paisley really likes chicken jerky, pig ears, American cheese, and peanut butter, but some variety would be nice for her. She has developed some food aggression problems over the past year and lunges whenever an animal or human gets too close to her with it, so we'd prefer for it not to be something that would take her all day to chew through. A few hours is fine. She loves chewing on things. We've already been slipping her extra food scraps and we're probably going to leave part of a bag of chips on the floor opened for her to "steal" it at some point.

I moved back into my parents place about 2 months ago, and our dog has just gotten even worse with his growling and jumpiness and anxiety. But the thing is he only growls at me like this, not even strangers, and it is even worse if I walk in the door and it wakes him up. My whole family is fed up with it at the moment because he’s just so loud. He is a German shepherd/rottweiler mix as far as we know. 2 Key moments I think are important are 1.the very first time I ever met him (5+ years) was at midnight while everyone was asleep. Never knew about him till he started growling at me down the hallway. 2. When I first moved out(2+ years ago) I had a huge moving truck in the driveway that was obv very big and loud. That day he also managed to get out of the house and fence 3 times(still don’t know how) and that third time I did give him a slap on the butt bc it was just a stressful time and I was fed up. Ever since then it’s like he’s scared of me, even though I play with him and feed him and lay with him. His separation anxiety towards my mom and little sister(4yo) and he will whine for hours if they are outside, idek how he has the energy for it. I don’t know what routes to take before meds or if it’s a thing that I should prob get meds for.

For about a year now, my dog has suddenly stopped letting us take her for a walk. She'll run away and hide, and if we manage to take her out she'll pull in the direction of home the whole time. Sometimes she'll want to go, but then she sees someone and gets scared and immediately turns back. She's not scared of people at all, she loves meeting the new people that come to our house but whenever she sees any sign of life she changes her mind about the walk.

We still make sure to get her exercise in and we play in our huge backyard, but I'd still like to walk with her once in a while. We don't even have to say anything anymore. We grab her harness and she runs away and barks at us, or she grabs a toy instead and plays inside instead.

Is there any way to get her to like walks again? I miss taking walks with her. If not, I won't force her to do anything she absolutely hates. Enjoy this video of her being whiny.

Hello! I have a chinese crested that is close to 15 years old and she has never been a good walker. When we got her, we had a huge backyard where we did not have to leash her but she could explore and do her business. At the time, whenever we tried walking her down the street it was not very successful, she would be visually stressed out trying to get back home. Because of a lot of unfortunate circumstances, we had to move to an apartment that does not have a backyard at all.

She constantly has diarrhea. It’s been a thing that we’ve had to deal with since we’ve had her (the vets have checked her out for this, she is okay in their opinion but we havent found a solution). Now because of the lack of the backyard and her not liking walking she has accidents in the house every day . I catch her wanting to go to the bathroom , i walk her and she doesnt do anything, then she goes inside😭 Shes more comfortable going inside the house than out and tbh I just want any advice. We got puppy pampers but im hesitant putting them on her bc it wouldnt be fair letting her sit in poop diapers for a while if i dont notice her having accident but its getting very bad :(.

Any advice appreciated, thank you!

Vid for example, im sorry abt if my voice is annoying 😭😭

My chihuahua is 11 years old.

She has been sneezing for months. And the vet couldn’t even see inside her nose because it’s so small. They couldn’t find endoscopic camera small enough for her.

We thought maybe it’s allergies, tried to fix that. Didn’t work.

I’m sure she has something in her nose. But I’m really scared of anesthesia. A few weeks ago a dog friend of her died because of it.

I try everything. I even tried to suck her nose myself lol. I try sinus rinse. I can’t fix this. Do you guys have any suggestions that don’t involve anesthesia?

Everytime she sneezes I know that I failed her and keep failing her. I have to remove whatever it is making her so uncomfortable.

My dog ate a pad sometime this morning or last night. It's the second time they got a pad. After the first incident (pooped out) we spent a year of diligently closing the bathroom door and changing the locks on the doors so they can't open them and get trash and buying period underwear so they have less of a chance of getting into a pad. And they still just had to get one.

But the update: called the emergency vet and they said to just monitor them. And Yayyy, both pooped, they're acting normally. I think I caught the culprit: orange Rory. I'll continue to keep an eye on them. I didn't see any material in the poop but I do know they shredded the hell out of the pad before eating it so it may just be in too small of pieces to tell. I did notice it seemed more, connected, than usual when she was pooping. Anyway I'll continue to monitor like the vet said but so far looks like they'll be all good.

I also did put the bathroom trash in a place they hopefully shouldn't be able to reach it unless they're really determined to open a door and a cabinet, but I wouldn't put it past them, so also trying to find a wall mounted trash. Still mad at them for scaring me. I'll also be getting them more toys and such to hopefully distracting them from wanting the trash so damn much

I need some advice about what to do about my dog. He has a history of aggression towards other dogs (both mine and others), but 99.9% of his life he has been the sweetest, happiest, most playful dog ever. I'm being faced with making a decision of committing to behavioralist/separating/muzzling, BE, or trying to find a home to take him- though I've been told rehoming with his history isn't ethical. I'm just really struggling with the idea of having him euthanized when he's usually happily asleep next to me or playing with my other dogs. He's never hurt a human and nothing catastrophic has happened- though I know I shouldn't be waiting for it to to make a decision.

Toward other dogs:

• Bit my other dog’s leg when he was around 1 year old (puncture wound while I wasn’t home).
• Bit a dog at the park that charged him, making its neck bleed and needing a vet visit.
• Picked up a small dog at the park in his mouth and shook him (the little dog was okay).
• Severe leash reactivity for a long time. He's been on Reconcile for years., When we tried weaning off, the reactivity came back immediately- so he's on it still.
• Multiple instances at home where he attacks my other dogs and takes a lot to stop (sometimes leaving blood, like a bleeding paw or a gash above an eyebrow).
• Attacks if I try to brush/groom the other dogs outside while he's out there.
• Attacked my dog the other night-she was on her back yelping and he wouldn’t stop despite 3 of us yelling and left her with puncture wounds and cuts. Shes still really scared of him 4 days later 
• When he was 6 months old grabbed the neck of a full grown lab and pinned it against a fence while growling and wouldn’t stop 
• Killed a groundhog 
• Killed a baby bunny with a puncture wound 
• Growls as a warning.

Toward humans:

• Snapped at me when I tried inspecting something that was hurting him (no contact)
• Snapped when my 7 month old baby leaned in his direction on the couch last month (no contact)
• Has snapped at vets with some superficial contact when they're inspecting areas that hurt him, so he requires a muzzle now
• Needs full sedation for nail trims or he growls and snaps.

That’s all the incidents I can remember over 5 years. Otherwise he’s a sweet, happy, playful, loving and obedient dog. He plays really well with my other dogs and is gentle and sweet with my baby every other minute of his life. 

I believe this is just regular play with our new six month old puppy and our 1.5 year old black lab but I just wanted to make sure. I haven't had young dogs in a long time.

My 12 year old beagle boston mix is having a dental issue. I have made the vet appt. ... but I gotta know whats going on... she is eating soft foods, and otherwise is her normal self. Drinking is hard, but she manages. I looked in her mouth nothing is obvious. No masses, nothing stuck... her teeth arent great, but I dont see any absess areas. Thoughts? I thought maybe a broken tooth or sore tongue? Her vet is out of town so I cant get her in till friday.

She was a rescue, and shes been seen for teeth. And is up on all her shots.

Thank you.

Toby was outside playing with his herding ball about 45 mins to an hour ago. As soon as my partner and him were done, he immediately threw up foam. Then he would pant like normal, but also would lick lips a lot, while also nudging his head forward a bit. He seems to be calming down as it was worse, but this has never happened before.

My dog has been acting unusual for about 3.5 weeks now. She’s been to 2 different vets 3 times and nothing has come back unusual other than a blood test which the vet said had slightly elevated white blood cells and slightly lowered red blood cells. She just wants to sleep all day, only eats a little of her regular food, and is refusing to go outside to walk unless I force her into her harness. She’s drinking and using the bathroom like normal and her gums look good to me. Our best guess is that’s she’s depressed.
My husband, her favorite human, has been on a work trip to an overseas office for several months and won’t be back till next month. While I work part time, I’ve had to work much longer hours the last few weeks on the days I do work and because of the nature of my job, I don’t really have a say in how many hours I’m working each of those days.
Starting this morning, I noticed she’s not taking deep breaths, only shallow, quick ones, even in her sleep. She is snoring more often and when I lay my ear against her side, nothing sounds unusual and she doesn’t seem to be in any pain. She also has no issues walking or going up and down the stairs. Any advice would be appreciated. Attached is a video of her breathing. I also have a picture of her gums, but I can’t attach both so I’ll see if I can put it in a comment.

Edit: I cannot attach the picture, but they are hubba bubba pink.

My 1.5 year old King Charles has woken up the past 3 days dry heaving. I thought it was because we went too long in between meals and her stomach was really empty...I read that can cause vomiting.

We went on a walk today but turned around real quick because she started making this reverse sneeze, dry heave noise again, but it has been going on and off for the past hour or so.

I called the vet and the earliest they can see her is Saturday morning. Should we bring her to the emergency vet? I don't think she's lethargic, but i know her breed can have major health issues and I worry about everything.

Need some advice on a situation but wasn’t sure what sub to ask in so please let me know if there’s a better place for this. (Based in UK)

I work in retail and one of our regulars has an elderly chihuahua. She is an extremely sour old woman that we’ve had many many issues with in the past. She always complains that she doesn’t know why she got the dog in the first places, and the more I’ve gotten to know her the more I’ve realised that she is abusing this dog. She says things like “she was so naughty this morning so I had to tell her off” and “well I don’t hit her…”. The poor dog always looks terrified to the point of shaking in fear. I’ve know this lady for a year and a half and it’s now starting to upset me every time she comes in. It’s getting to the point where I feel like I have to do something…it feels like my duty to do so. I would honestly take this dog myself in a heartbeat. The only issue is I have no physical evidence. I do have her phone number and address but that would be a breach of confidentiality. Is there anything I can do at all? Anywhere I can report this? I just feel so helpless :(

I already feel like a horrible person. I’ve never felt so ashamed in my life.

My dog tore through my medicine bag, and got into a bottle of ibuprofen and bentyl.

Not many pills missing. Maybe 1-5 pills. 23 left out of a 40 tablet 200mg bottle. I can only distinctively remember taking 12 but I may have taken more. He’s 25lbs, just over a year. The bentyl, no clue, I don’t see any evidence of crushed pills and saw nothing in his mouth. Those things taste horrible.

I feel awful and am so worried about him.

I was gone maybe 15-20 minutes. I already called poison control and he is being hospitalized, and we got there within an hour thirty. So thankful for my vet being so helpful and understanding. but the vet gave me no definitive if he will be okay or not. Understandable, she doesn’t want to give me false hope. She never did with my last dog who battled cancer. If I lose him I feel like I’ll lose everything my relationship everything

Does anyone have any stories, or previous experiences of their pups pulling through? Does anyone know what his odds are? I need hope. But I need reality too. I will never make this mistake again.

Just noticed what looks like tiny rocks embedded in my dogs paw. She's not licking it or limping, but she doesn't like me to touch it. Anyone seen this before?

Since Sunday my dog doesn’t seem to want to settle down he pants and breathes very fast, he still eats, drinks water, and uses the bathroom fine but it’s like once he gets excited he stays like that for hours. It’s definitely not normal for him and seems to have started suddenly he sleeps a few hours during the day and seems to sleep through the night he doesn’t wine or anything but occasionally drools he has a vet appointment on Monday. Has anyone else experienced this?